On September 30, 2013, the bodies of thirteen migrants trying to reach Europe from the northern coasts of Africa washed ashore on the Sicilian beach of Sampieri. In one of the photos that circulated online, their bodies appear covered by white sheets and lined up on the sand. The photo was taken from the sandy dunes surrounding the beach. Barely visible within the frame, the dunes are a well-known cruising site. Taking speculation as method, the article asks what it would mean to shift the orientation of the camera by acknowledging the proximity of the cruising site to the deathly scenario of September 30. Proposing a practice of reading sideways that places the journalistic photo alongside the documentary Lesvia (Tzeli Hadjidimitriou, 2024) and Barbara Visser’s photo series The World Belongs to Early Risers (2002), the article argues that reorienting the camera on the Mediterranean beach allows the recognition of a “spectral proximity” that implicates queerness within the scene of migrant death.
Sergio Rigoletto (Thu,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: